76 myths · Page 3 of 3
The king's officers praised Mattathias and offered his family safety. He refused, struck down the man who stepped forward to comply, and fled into the hills.
One word in Leviticus opens the altar to every human being, and King Menashe's cry from prison pierces heaven after a lifetime of wickedness.
Israel wept over the spies' report and God answered: you cried for nothing tonight, so I will give you reason to cry on this night for every generation.
In the wilderness, God demands the heart before the eyes, and the bitter water ritual forces desire and secrecy to answer in public.
A judge swore away whatever met him first, and his daughter danced out the door. So she climbed a mountain to plead her own death before God.
Samuel's ghost told Saul his sons would fall in battle. Saul took them anyway. God showed the angels what complete submission to heaven looks like.
Shiloh stood between tent and Temple, open to the sky. Just outside Jerusalem, Molekh's seven enclosures took children the priests could not stop.
Two children swore they would never marry without each other's blessing. Years later, she came with gold to buy her release. He refused to take a coin.
Torah law forbids altars outside Jerusalem. Elijah built one on Mount Carmel anyway. Vayikra Rabbah explains the one exception that made it legal.
A prophet pays for passage in the wrong direction, planning to drown rather than let Nineveh's repentance shame Israel before God.
Elijah calls fire down on Mount Carmel while kingdoms shake the earth and Israel waits at a ruined Temple gate for God to return.
A soul faints for God's courts at the Red Sea, a bird finds a nest at the altar, and the poor man's prayer rises before any sacrifice.
Song of Songs opens with a lover searching through the dark. The rabbis say that night was the one before Abraham rose to take Isaac to Moriah.
When the exiles returned, Nehemiah's priests dug for the sacred altar fire and found only thick water. He ordered them to pour it anyway.
Simon son of Onias enters the Temple court with fire, incense, and Aaron's sons around him, and for a moment the service looks like the sun rising.
A king sends a hundred talents of silver to Jerusalem, and his gifts pass through smoke before a single Torah scroll moves.
